This chapter explains Daryl's captivity and why Dwight and Sherry are keeping Jamie's relationship with Daryl a secret.
Basically- it all evolves down to what Daryl did and didn't do when he met Dwight, Sherry and Tina in the woods. He could've hurt them for hurting him. When he ran off with the cooler- he could've just kept going and left Tina to die. And even after Tina died, he could've left Dwight and Sherry on their own. But he didn't. He made sure they were alright.
So they owe Daryl. Even when Jamie threatened to kill them, they still feel they owe Daryl.
Finally- Dwight and Sherry have seen first hand what Dwight does with advantages. Regardless of what Jamie did to them in the woods, punching out Sherry and taking back Daryl's things, they don't want to subject her to Negan's games of torture. So regardless of whether they like or dislike Jamie, they don't want to put anyone through the struggles they've been forced through to survive under Negan.
I hope this explanation makes sense. If you have any questions, please review! :)
We're on Easy Street And it feels so sweet 'Cause the world is but a treat when you're on Easy Street. And we're breaking out the good champagne I'm sittin' pretty on a gravy train. And when we sing, every sweet refrain repeats right here on Easy Street.
The sound of metal on metal and a lock turning alerted him to the fact that the door to this hellish room was going to open.
Daryl trailed after Dwight like a lost puppy, in his rough material shirt and pats. A fluorescent orange "A" was painted on the front of his shirt, and he was covered in grime.
One of Negan's people fell into step beside Dwight, nodding to him. "It's Daryl, right?"
"Don't talk to him." Dwight said curtly.
The man nodded once, before he glanced back at Daryl. "Whatever they say- just do it."
Dwight scowled. "I said don't talk to him."
He was taken for a pitifully short walk around the compound, before Dwight led him back to the open door of the hated concrete room.
Daryl was shepherded inside.
Dwight shut the door behind him, leaning against the wood. Before speaking.
"It'll get better- if you let it. Negan will take care of you. That's the best you can hope for now."
His second walk around the compound wasn't much better.
He was trailing behind Dwight again, dragging his feet across the concrete towards a chain link fence. Outside, several overturned, burned shells of cars and poles sharpened to spikes stood, with an assortment of walkers either chained to or impaled on them.
They were all wearing the clothes they died in- most of them wearing the shirt with the very same A-marking Daryl wore now.
There was the fwing of an arrow leaving the crossbow, before one of the walkers fell with the clanking of chains.
Dwight smirked, hefting up the crossbow. "I missed this thing." he admitted, before looking up and nodding outside the fence.
"See that? That's you, asshole. unless you're smart. You could be like them or me. Or them." Dwight jerked his head towards the mindless herd of the undead in bondage outside.
The walk was even shorter this time, to his dismay- he barely had time to stretch his aching legs.
Dwight shoved him into the little concrete room, and he grunted, falling to his knees. He was weak and shaky- they hadn't fed him at all. No food, no water. He was tempted to drink his own piss.
Dwight looked down at him and sighed. "Make it easy on yourself."
"I ain't ever gonna kneel." Daryl muttered, grimy hair falling in front of his face.
"Yeah, I said the same thing." Dwight said ruefully.
"I know." Daryl said it quietly, accepting the fact Dwight had broken.
Dwight sighed, leaning against the door frame. "See, I don't think you do. But you're gonna."
-we sing, every sweet refrain repeats right here on Easy Street.
The only sound besides the blaring music was the frantic kicks at the locked door.
Negan watched, amused, before striding back over to the railing, to stand beside Dwight.
"He is going ape-shit!" he announced proudly.
"Yep." Dwight smiled slightly, looking satisfied with himself.
"And you? You're hustling, man." Negan said, smiling broadly.
Dwight nodded. "It's working." he said, though it seemed like he was more trying to reassure himself.
"It's working slow, yeah, but some people are harder to break." Negan said calmly. "He's close."
"Yeah, he is."
"Since you're doing such an awesome job, you want to have a little blast from the past with you-know-who?" Negan laughed at Dwight's serious expression. "Lighten up, man. I'm kidding. You can take your pick- as long as she says yes."
Dwight still was silent.
"Oh, crap." Negan's eyes danced. "Are you okay down there? Your penis? I mean, that guy, he, uh... clomped on it. Or is it pckwww? Down for the count?"
Dwight chuckled. "I''m fine. But I'm gonna pass. I'm cool." I can't lay beside her once without wanting to do it all the time. Without remembering when she was just mine...
"Huh." Negan stepped forward, eyes flashing. "Are you cool, though, Dwight? I mean, I just said that it was happy hour at the Pussy Bar and Dwight eats for free, and you're tellin' me no? Is that cool!?" he almost looked offended.
"I haven't finished the job yet. I-I haven't earned it yet." Every time I look at her it hurts. She was MY wife, you bastard... now she's just your toy.
"The hell you talking about? You earn what you take." Negan stared at Dwight, though the murderous flame had left his eyes.
The walkie-talkie on Dwight's waist crackled. "We have an orange situation." the tinny voice sounded.
Dwight nodded. "I'll do it."
Negan frowned. "You don't have to. That's grunt work- have Fat Joey do it, he needs to exercise. you don't have to do it, Dwight."
"But I'd like to do it."
Negan smirked, clapping him on the shoulder. "Good boy."
He was led, barefoot and stumbling, into what must've been Negan's office.
Negan whistled as he stood, Lucille in hand, two men standing beside him. He gave Daryl a winning smile. '"Are we pissing our pants yet?"
Daryl said nothing, expression stony.
"Who are you?" Negan demanded of the first man, voice deadly serious.
"Negan."
"Who are you?"
"Negan."
Negan laughed. "See that? I. Am. Everywhere. And this was your chance to prove to me that fact was sinking in. You failed. Which sucks, since your life was about to get way cooler. am I right? Damn right."
He strode idly through the room, playing with his knick-knacks with his free hand.
"Dwight gave you options. But I don't think you get it yet. So- I'll break it down for you. three choices. One- you wind up on the spike and work for me as a dead man. Two- you get out of your cell and work for points. But you're gonna wish you were dead. Or three- you work for me, get yourself a brand-new pair of shoes, and live like a king! choice is obvious. There is no door number four. This is it. This is the only way." his voice had grown quieter, more serious, and he eyed Daryl like a snake staring a it's prey, waiting for an answer.
Daryl laughed- a low, gravely laugh- and raised his eyes to look up at Negan. "Screw it." he muttered.
Negan paused for a moment, grinning impossibly wide. "Wow. You don't scare easy. I love that." his eyes glittered, before his expression darkened. "But Lucille- well... it kind of pisses her off. She thinks it's disrespectful. But lucky for you... she's not too thirsty today. But I am."
His eyes narrowed dangerously, before he laughed. "So I'm gonna go and get me a drink."
And he was back in his cell.
He'd grown good at noticing footsteps. How heavy they were, how loud, how close and far they were from his cell.
He could tell by the lightness of the footsteps it was a woman- and when he heard her voice, it only confirmed who was outside his cell, pressed against the door. Sherry. Dwight's wife- well, she used to be, anyways.
"Daryl?"
He stayed silent, sitting in the dark.
"You could've killed us. Probably should've. We were assholes- but you helped us. You could've run off with the cooler and let Tina die. You didn't even know us, but you came back and helped us anyways. And we double crossed you. We ran into your kid- and she didn't kill us, either. Negan doesn't know about her. And Dwight and I won't tell. You helped us- so we're repaying the favor."
"There's so many things I wish I never found out, I wish I didn't try. Back in the woods after I lost Tina, when we took your stuff, when we decided to go back I told you I was sorry. And you said- 'You're gonna be.'? I am."
Her footsteps echoed off the concrete, before he was alone again.
He found Sherry on the stairs, cigarette in hand, smoke tangling with her chocolate brown hair.
He shuffled up the steps, leaning against the wall beside her and clearing his throat. "Can... uh... can I have one?"
Her slender fingers handed him a cigarette, and her perfect nails flicked the lighter on. He leaned forward, putting the end of the cigarette to the flame, and avoided looking into her eyes as he did so. He couldn't see all the memories in those coffee brown irises...
He closed his eyes and took a puff, letting the smoke invade him and coil around any old feelings, strangle them, stomp out any embers of dreams that were still burning.
He exhaled, looking over at her carefully. He sighed. "He good to you?"
"Yeah." she nodded, but didn't meet his eyes.
"Good." he lowered his cigarette, still looking at the floor.
"Are you... um..." he cleared his throat. "You happy?"
"Yeah." she took another drag of her cigarette, still not meeting his eyes.
"That's good. I did the right thing." he said, trying to convince both of them by saying it out loud.
"It's a hell of a lot better than being dead." he added, as an afterthought, when she didn't immediately agree with him.
"Yeah."
But they didn't meet each other's eyes.
The music was shut off, and he was left in silence- blessed silence- for a second.
Then the door unlocked, and Dwight practically threw a piece of stale bread at him.
"Eat." he hissed, looking pissed as hell.
"You got your friend killed. I got Tina killed. And don't pretend like you don't know the score. You should be dead. But Negan's taken a shine to you. And Sherry won't let me tell him about your little bitch back home. You're lucky. Don't forget." Negan let two Polaroid pictures flutter to the floor of the cell.
"Bon appetit.". He slammed the door shut, and the music began to play again.
Daryl dragged himself over to the pictures, picking them up carefully.
There was the bloodstain on the forest floor.
And there was Jamie, lying splayed out on the leaves, hair strewn over her face as she clutched her busted air, blood dripping out between her fingers...
He closed his eyes and sobbed long and hard, clutching both pictures to his chest.
He'd gotten Glenn killed- his stupidity had cost Maggie her husband and a baby their father. And he was never going to see Jamie again.
He tore the Polaroid of Jamie into tiny pieces, so it couldn't possibly be recognized or put back together, and threw them in the bucket he'd been given to piss in.
Dwight and Sherry knew about Jamie- nobody else did. Sherry had the decency to keep it all quiet, but it scared the hell out of him that Dwight- unstable and pissed as he was- knew. One slip of the tongue and his little girl- the one thing he loved more than life itself- would be at Negan's feet.
Negan chuckled the next time Daryl was shoved into his office.
"Wow. You look awful. Don't you worry. We'll have Carson fix you all up. you thirsty? Here." he handed Daryl a cup, which the man eyed half-heartedly.
"Ah, hell, I forgot. your mouth is all puffed up like a baboon's ass. Need a straw? D, give him a straw."
He turned to his other man scolding. "What's wrong with you? See that guy? He hustles." he turned to Daryl, leaning forward.
"I like hustle.. But believe it or not, things weren't always cool between us. See, D here - he worked for points, him and his super hot wife and her super hot sister. But, see, sis - she needed meds. And that shit is hard to scavenge, so it cost more. Sis fell behind on points, so I asked her to marry me. Told her I would take care of her in sickness and in health, blah blah blah, because I am a stand-up guy." Negan looked rather proud of himself.
"She tells me that she'd gonna think about it." his expression turned steely. "Next thing you know, I'm dealing with an orange situation. Dwighty boy here stole all the meds and took off with his super hot wife and my super hot maybe soon-to-be fiance."
Lucille tapped the ground once, as if for emphasis.
"So I had to send my guys after him. Because I can't let something like that stand. There are rules. Cost me an arm and a leg going after him. And you know what - Dwighty boy? He still got away." Negan looked almost proud at that.
Daryl knew the story of course- he'd been there. But since Negan didn't know that, he realized Dwight really had been telling the truth- Negan didn't know about his history with Dwight, or Jamie. Yet.
"but here's the thing. D - he saw the light. He manned up. He came back. He asked for my forgiveness. I liked that. Made me take notice. But Lucille- well, you know how she is. She is a stickler for the rules. So Dwight begged me not to kill Sherry, which I thought was kind of cute, so I was just gonna kill him. But then Sherry says that she'll marry me if I let Dwight live, which is pretty screwed-up when you think about it, 'cause I was gonna marry her sister, but Sherry if super hot. Anyways, it was a start. So Dwight got the iron, and I married his super hot wife. Ex-wife. And after all that, he still got on board. Look at him now- one of my top guys! And we are totally cool."
"Point being- I think you can be that guy. I think you're ready to be that guy. You look around- this can all be yours. Just answer one question for me." Negan leaned forward. "Who are you?"
Daryl simply stared at him. He was just like his old man- only more dangerous. Normally he and Merle had been able to overpower him together, but now- he was stuck here with this lunatic who had an army at his command. And he wasn't going to give in.
Negan laughed, smiling as he surveyed Daryl. "What? Does the cat got your tongue? You're just overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all?" his eyes flashed dangerously. "I'm gonna ask you one more time- who are you?"
"Daryl." he met Negan's shit-brown eyes with his own violent green ones, not cowering.
"Oh." Negan looked surprised, and Dwight moved to knock Daryl over.
"Hey- sst, sst, sst. It's cool, D. He made his choice. Ain't my fault he made a dumbass choice." He nodded to Dwight. "You know what to do."
Dwight grunted, grabbing Daryl and draging him back towards his room. "You're gonna wind up in that room or hanging on the fence!"
Daryl stumbled as he was shoved forward. "I get why you did it. Why you took it. You were thinking of someone else."
Dwight said nothing, though his gaze burned a hole in Daryl's back.
He was roughly thrown into his cell, the door slammed shut behind him.
"That's why I can't."
I'm gonna get out of this place. Gonna see my little girl again. No matter WHO I gotta take out to do it.
Please review! :)